Underplayed Gems

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

The Atomic Cafe poster
Directed by
Pierce Rafferty, Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty
Genre
documentary film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 28m
Rated
12
Rating
7.3 of 10 from 76 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This documentary uses archival footage from Cold War era newsreels and training films to show how the U.S. government downplayed the dangers of nuclear warfare. It contrasts cheerful patriotic messages with the grim reality of atomic bombs, all without a narrator.

satiricalunsettlingjarringeducationalretrodisquietingpropagandisticdarkly ironic

What happens

The Atomic Cafe is a 1982 American documentary film directed by Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty. It is a compilation of clips from newsreels, military training films, and other footage produced in the United States early in the Cold War on the subject of nuclear warfare. Without any narration, the footage is edited and presented in a manner to demonstrate how misinformation and propaganda was used by the U.S. government and popular culture to ease fears about nuclear weapons among the American public. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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